Nick Kyrgios was widely expected to win this matchup against Nakashima and he did but there were a lot of issues in this one.
He needed 5 sets for the 2nd time in this event to win the match and it was all due to Nakashima playing really well. The American played many matches on grass this year to prepare for Wimbledon and it paid off. He was able to give a lot of trouble to Kyrgios who had issues of his own. The start of the match was troublesome for him because he was seen painfully grimacing a couple of times.
It was the shoulder and it seemingly bothered him a lot. It's understandable, it's used a lot in tennis and Kyrgios would take several medical timeouts throughout the match. He took painkillers, he was massaged but eventually, he elected to cope with it as best he could. After dropping the opening set Kyrgios fought back taking the 2nd one.
The 3rd one was another solid one from Kyrgios as he could impose his will more and more. Nakashima was expected up and down the entire match which is not unusual due to his age. He will be a very good tennis player but there are consistency issues still. The 4th set is when Kyrgios messed up giving his opponent some chances and Nakashima took them.
We went into the 5th set with a very serious Kyrgios who was raising his level with each game. It looked as if he took the 4th set off and then came back more robust in the 5th. He took an early break and then added another one to cruise to a 6-2 finish.
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